4.5

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[Naseem's POV]

Our Team had arrived second in the world of The Boys. Before us was Team Oceania, and after us was Team Western Europe.

We had seen Team Oceania already, and they were nothing to fear. They didn't even have a psychic, and most of their Team were nothing but weaklings. The only one that really mattered was their leader, but it was nothing we couldn't handle.

Team Western Europe was another kind of Team, however. Before even meeting them, the circumstances of their arrival told us how strong they would be.

Our Team was with The Boys, while Team Oceania was with the Seven. With the only two powerful groups allied to a Team, Team Western Europe were basically alone.

But if there was one thing I had learned about God and his game, it was that he would always try to balance things out. So, Team Western Europe's rating was high enough that God considered they could take us on without any support.

And that, was scary enough already. Moreover, Team Western Europe only arrived here at the end of the season, meaning God wasn't even leaving them time to build connections and prepare for us.

That's why our plans drastically changed once we entered this mission world. Anas, our leader, was the only one to have ever experienced a Team Fight, although it was with an older, stronger Team. And back then, the technique had been to go at the other team hard, right from the beginning, to apply constant pressure.

However, this time, we never even came in contact with Team Oceania, simply because of team Western Europe.

Maybe they just had several lucky streaks and had a higher rating than they deserved. But another possibility was that they completely deserved this rating, and it would be impossible for us to survive if we fought against Team Oceania.

Hence, until we met Team Western Europe, we decided to lower casualties on every side as much as we could. This was mainly for Herogasm, where we evacuated a lot of the Supes present, saving them from getting their powers erased, and thus building possible forces against Team Western Europe.

Team Oceania seemed to have a similar idea to us too as they were not even present for Herogasm, leaving Homelander and Stormfront to face The Boys.

Speaking of which, Stormfront's presence had been a nasty surprise, both because she was opposing us, and because that only elevated Team Western Europe's rating.

Then, finally, we had our first contact with Team Western Europe.

We were on our way to Mindstorm's cabin, following canon, when all of a sudden I felt the world around me shrink.

My psychic abilities went haywire as I looked up, and felt like a giant was standing in the sky, looking down at me.

My skin paled as my back was quickly drenched in sweat. Gulping the lump in my throat, I focused on my psychic ability, Telepathy, and tried to focus on the presence, no matter how uncomfortable it was.

The presence noticed, I could immediately tell, but did not linger, moving its eyes away from me. Still, not that I had faced it, I could still feel that whoever this psychic was, their senses were still spread out.

"Naseem, are you alright?" I heard someone ask, as they patted my shoulder.

Flinching from the sudden touch, I looked at Anas with wide eyes, and muttered, "They're here."

Everyone turned to look at me, and Maaiz, Anas' second, asked, "How far are they?"

I replied, my hands shaking, "I-I don't know. Several kilometers. Their psychic is several times stronger than me."

The expression of my teammates turned grave as they understood what that meant just as well as I did.

Psychics were vital members of a Team, and while they usually had some resources put into them, players were ultimately human, and would rather pay for their own enhancements first.

And since Psychics did not have the strongest fighting capabilities, most of their strength actually came from others. For me, at least, most of what I had was exchanged for me by either Anas or Maaiz, in exchange of my support.

So, following this logic, the stronger the psychic, the stronger the fighters. And with how exponential rewards get, for their psychic to be that much stronger than me…

Soldier Boy could not really get the problem however, as he groaned, "Stop bitching around you pussies, we're marching straight on."

Anas frowned, and warned, "Don't think you are invincible, Soldier Boy. We are about to face people who might be stronger than even Homelander."

This might have been a bit of an overestimation, but it had the intended effect as Hughie palled, muttering, "That can't be right."

Butcher seemed skeptical as well, but kept quiet as he watched us with narrowed eyes. Soldier Boy did not look bothered by the statement however, arrogant as ever.

As we resumed our journey to Mindstorm's cabin, Maaiz whispered to Anas, "We need to take out their psychic if we want a chance. If they really have a range spanning several kilometers, then they are bound to find our newbies and kill them all."

Anas nodded, looking at one newbie we had taken with us, and said, "Karim, come over here."

One good change we had for us was that The Boys somehow had a much larger stock of Temporary V, allowing us to test each of our newbies. Most of them had lesser enhancements, giving them D to C Rank abilities.

Karim stood out among them however, as he gained Super Speed after taking Temporary V. He became capable of moving at least at the speed of sound, if not faster, and could even land hits on Anas and Maaiz, our two strongest members.

Unaware of what we were facing, Karim walked over confidently, and asked, "What is it?"

His voice dripped of arrogance, but Anas ignored it as he said, "We need to take care of their psychic. They will be under protection however, so we are going to need a distraction. Maaiz will attack their leader, and while he does that I want you to deal with their psychic. Can you do that?"

Passing a hand through his hair, Karim replied with a smug smile, "I will take care of their leader."

Feeling exasperated at his antics, Anas pinched the bridge of his nose, "No, leave him to Maaiz. Their psychic is more important."

Karim rolled his eyes, pouting like a child, "Fine."

At the same time, Hughie said, "I can help too. Just tell me which one to attack."

Butcher immediately cut in, "If we are really facing a Homelander wannabe, sorry but you guys won't cut it."

Soldier Boy said nothing, but his silence was approval enough.

Anas only smiled in response however as he said, "Fine then. Everyone should attack their leader. Treat him as you would treat Homelander. Meanwhile, Karim, along with Hughie, you guys need to attack their psychic. Naseem will point them out to you."

Karim completely ignored his words, but Hughie smiled at me. I nodded at him, and tried to calm my beating heart. This is fine, things are going to be alright. We've gone through too many obstacles to fall here.

My will reaffirmed, I walked with firm steps as we approached the cabin in the woods, in which Mindstorm was supposedly hiding, we finally entered within a 500 meters radius, and I started feeling his presence.

But as he we got even closer, and the enemy team finally entered my range, I felt strong spiritual fluctuations. They were quickly followed by scary sounds in the physical world.

Our team stopped for a moment, everyone's eyes turning to me as I quickly explained what I felt, "There are six of them, along with Mindstorm. They have either subdued him, or convinced him they were his allies, as he has stopped attacking them."

Soldier Boy scoffed at that and immediately started moving, quickly followed by everyone. Meanwhile, I also warned, "Their psychic is the standing right in front of Mindstorm. But careful, he feels… strange."

My warning was mostly ignored, however, as we entered the clearing, and finally came face to face with Team Western Europe.

But the moment we arrived, I realized there was something wrong.

First off was the cabin, which had somehow completely disappeared, as if it had been torn away from the ground. But more importantly, was the enemy team.

Their psychic was right where he was supposed to be, and the moment we arrived, I felt his eyes burn into mine as the spiritual fluctuations got stronger. But now that we were in close proximity, I realized it wasn't purely spiritual energy.

And the enemy team felt wrong. The one in the Akatsuki Coat and with the Oni Mask felt incomparably strong, but the rest were lackluster. None of them even felt as strong as Maaiz or Anas.

Then, as I looked up, I understood.

All this time, I thought I was facing an enemy psychic, but I wasn't. Instead, I was facing someone who had a power that was somewhat spiritual in nature, and they were so strong in it that it felt like I was facing a psychic.

But then, the one I had pointed out wasn't the weak psychic, but instead the leader of the enemy team.